That time of year again
by Lokrume
Summary: April pays the turtles a surprise visit, but only two of the brothers are there to be seen. As the mystery thickens, April is about to learn something about her reptile friends that she didn't know before. (Oneshot. Mostly comedy, but true to the show. No shipping, just friendship. Nickelodeon TMNT.)


**AN:** Ok, I had to research quite a bit before writing this one. I've only owned a freshwater turtle briefly when I was 15, so I had to read up on how they shed skin and all the circumstances around that. But it's an interesting subject, and I thought it made good material for a short story about the ninja brothers. :)

Lastly, I've done my best to follow the humor and feeling of the show as much as I can, and I hope you'll be able to read this as if it was a real episode.

Enjoy! ^^

oOoOoOoOoOo

April carefully slid her body over the turnstile to prevent it from making any sounds while at the same time trying to keep the five pizzas in her arms from falling. She made a relieved smile when she had reached the other side quietly and sneaked closer to the lair. She spotted Donnie working with something that looked like a twitching kraang arm at a table and Raph reading a comic book while the noise from the TV went ignored in the background. April smiled mischievously as she crept closer to Donnie's back, slowly opening her mouth to prepare for a loud announcement.

"'Sup April." Raph said from the couch behind her without looking up from the magazine.

The anticlimax made April's shoulders slump in disappointment and she turned around to Raph with one hand on her hip.

"Really? You knew I was here? Come on, I didn't even use the gate this time. There's no way you could have heard me."

"Sure, you were super stealthy," Raph said with a hint of sarcasm. "I totally couldn't hear the smell of five pepperoni pizzas at all, it's uncanny."

April made a sulky sigh and Frisbee-tossed one of the boxes to Raph, who skillfully caught it by piercing it in midair with one of his sais, still with his eyes glued to the comic he was reading.

"Sorry for trying to surprise you." She muttered and made a curious glance at Donnie who was still busy working. She poked his shoulder, causing the turtle to flinch violently and almost spill a bottle of chemicals.

"April?" He said in surprise, after he managed to save the liquid by covering the flask with his free hand. "How, how long have you been here? I-I- mean um, nice to see you! ...And how long have you been here now again?"

"Relax, you don't have to pretend," April shrugged with a smile while watching the turtle try to tidy up the table for the unexpected female guest. "You knew I was here too, didn't you?"

"No he didn't." Raph stated from the couch, absently slicing up the pizza with his weapon while reading.

"Can it, shell-brain." Donnie said with a narrow look at his brother, but then noticed the boxes in April's arms. He stared at them for a moment before looking up at April in amazement. "... You brought pizza?"

"Yup." She declared happily and held them up for all to see like a winner in a fishing contest. "I've just survived a three hour long biology test, which I dare say went better than expected thanks to you guys, so I felt like celebrating."

She handed Donnie one of the boxes and the turtle grabbed it with heart shaped eyes.

"I can't believe it!" he exclaimed dreamily while exaggeratedly inhaling the fumes. "She bought a pizza for me! A pizza! A _real_ pizza!"

"You mean as opposed to those 'unreal' pizzas we usually eat?" Raph pointed out, finally looking up from the magazine so he could shoot his brother a scornful glare.

"Actually, I got one each for all of us." April said and smiled. "I figured it would be a nice change for you guys to eat pizza that has been bought directly from the baker and not, you know, stolen from the street."

"What!?" Donnie suddenly exclaimed and accidentally dropped the box, looking absolutely shocked over the accusation. "We don't steal pizza!"

"Then how do you get it?" April wondered with a raised eyebrow. "No offense, but fighting foot soldiers and Kraang droids doesn't exactly sound like a money-pit."

"Maybe not, but surely we..." Donnie began, but stopped himself and seemed to think very hard about something. He then stared right in front of himself in sudden realization. "... Raph! Please tell me we pay for all our pizza."

"We pay for all our pizza...?"

"Without adding a question mark!"

"You're gonna have to talk to Mikey about that." Raph shrugged, as if the matter didn't really concern him.

Donnie made a deep sigh of depression and let his forehead hit the table with the bandana hanging at the sides like sad dog-ears. The twitching Kraang arm had managed to crawl up near his head, which made it look like it was trying to pat him. April made a silent giggle at her friend's reaction, but was then struck by a sudden thought.

"Now when you're mentioning it, where is Mikey?" She asked, looking around the lair. Her eyes suddenly fell on the TV, where a cartoon spaceship sprayed a giant spray-can at a bunch of space-ants. "And isn't that Leo's show? Why isn't he watching it?"

Raph and Donnie suddenly looked up at April with blinking eyes and then shared a glance with each other. Neither of them seemed very keen on answering the question and was hoping that the other brother would do it instead.

"... Has something happened?" April asked with a worried look at the remaining brothers. But before any of them had the time to answer her, a sudden scream pierced the walls. April and the others looked around to see where it came from, only to catch the sight of Mikey running out from the dojo, screaming on top of his lungs as he made a swift turn and threw himself on top of a beanbag. Three shurikens soared through the air with great velocity and hit the wall behind the place he had been standing two seconds ago. The orange clad turtle panted and sat up, looking with big eyes at the newly decorated wall. He then turned to the others with a grin and made a thumbs up.

"You know," Raph began and studied his youngest brother. "I used to think you were just born stupid. But you're really starting to make it look like a way of life.

"Oh yeah?" Mikey said and made an attempt to mimic Raph's superior attitude. "Well_ I_ used to think that you were just _born_ ugly, but maybe _you're _starting to-"

Raph didn't let him finish the insult and nonchalantly kicked him off the beanbag, turning Mikey's remaining words into pained sounds as he ended up on his back.

"Well isn't that fortunate," Donnie said while shaking his head tiredly. "Just imagine the disaster if an hour went by with some peace and quiet down here for a change..."

The moment after Donnie had spoken, Mikey's head sprung up like a rocket with his eyes staring in front of him like lanterns on a truck. He made a deep inhale with a dead-serious expression.

"... Where is he?" he asked, almost as in trance.

April looked at Mikey in confusion but then Donnie softly tapped the pizza boxes in her arms to give her a hint. April made a silent "oh" and picked up one of the boxes for Mikey.

"Here, there's one for each of you so-"

The sharp end of a kusarigama cut off her words and landed like a fishing hook on the box in her hand, piercing the "P" perfectly. April barely had the time to react to the assault before the pizza was yanked away from her sight, leaving her staring at her own empty hand while the eager turtle reeled in the freshly acquired booty like a pirate.

"You're... welcome?" April said with a frown, uncertain whether she should be offended or impressed.

"Thank _you_, pizza dude!" Mikey said with his mouth already full, shooting April a beaming smile with pizza slices hanging out like sticky extra tongues.

"Is there any way you could eat that pizza any less disgusting?" Raph asked, and his lips curled back with a repulsed look at him.

"Tried it once, but I didn't like it." Mikey shrugged with a dignified manner as he loudly sucked in a string of cheese that was trying to escape from his mouth. Then his expression changed into an eager one as he seemed to recall something. "Oh! Guys! You gotta see Leo, it's sooo gross, you won't believe how close he is to lose it right now!"

"About that close?" Raph asked and pointed at the throwing stars that were still piercing the wall with the metal gleaming menacing in the light.

"... Lucky guess." Mikey said with a suspicious look at Raph, as if his brother were cheating at a game.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Donnie said with an annoyed look at Mikey as he absently stopped the Kraang arm from creeping off the table.

"Nope." Mikey declared with inappropriate pride.

"Okay, let me rephrase that: _find_ something better to do!" Donnie said with an angry gesture which went completely ignored by the orange clad ninja.

"I'm going back in." Mikey announced with an overly solemn look at the dojo, as if he was about to do something unimaginably heroic. He picked up his almost empty box of pizza and turned to Raphael. "Raph. If I don't make it out of there alive, I want _you_ to take care of this for me."

"Your pizza?" Raph asked with a doubtful look at the box with sticky leftovers.

"Just promise me!" Mikey exclaimed with a desperate look. His face was only inches away from Raph's and his eyes staring into his like a mother that was entrusting him with her firstborn.

"… Whatever." Raph finally yielded halfheartedly, which Mikey took as a definite "yes" and showed the box in Raph's arms before quickly sneaking back to the dojo.

Raph watched his brother disappear with an evil grin as he opened the box that was left in his ward and started gurgle up a big ball of spit.

"Raph, he keeps pizzas in his room that are culturing microbiological organisms faster than my petri dishes." Donnie pointed out. "You think your saliva would keep him from eating it?"

Raph seemed to consider this possibility for a second before making a disappointed growl and swallowed the spit ball again.

"Shoot. I forgot that he eats from the trash..."

"Shouldn't we try to stop him?" Donnie asked with an uncertain look at the dojo.

"Why? He's practically begging for it." Raph stated and picked up his magazine again.

"… Aaand I can't argue with that." Donnie concluded after some soul-searching, and turned back to his work.

"Does anyone here feel the need to share what's going on?" April said and looked at the two turtles with folded arms. "What's up with Leo, is he alright?"

"Yeah, sure. Why wouldn't he be." Donnie explained with an attempted casual voice, but could tell from April's face that he didn't pull it off. "Well, I guess that's a matter of opinion. I mean he's _fine_, but maybe not fine per definition if you need to define the meaning of the word fine or if, you know, um-"

Donnie quickly lost track of what he was supposed to say, causing him to nervously scratch his neck and look all around the place for a good explanation.

"… He's shedding." He suddenly slipped out.

"He's what?" April said with a surprised frown.

"Shedding." Donnie clarified, cutting straight to the chase. "You know, that thing most reptiles do when their bone structure grow and-"

"I know what it means. Biology test, remember?" April interrupted him with a gesture at herself, but then looked from Donnie to Raph. "It's just... you guys do that too?"

"Well, certainly not to the same extent as normal turtles." Donnie said with an attempted laugh to make the topic less awkward. "But that's kind of a given, considering the circumstances."

"I guess, but..."

"It's actually quite fascinating since we're not certain which kind of turtles we originate from and each species has their own unique cycle of shedding." Donnie started off, not unlike a professor that's eager to share his progress with anyone who has ears to listen with. "For example, the male diamondback terrapin would only shed its _skin_ while still a baby, and then continue to shed the _shell_ for about once every three years, but that time range hasn't quite applied to us. Not to mention that a common fresh water turtle would need the help of the sun to shed, but we've grown up here in the sewers which possess no such qualities for-"

"HE LOST IT GUYS!"

Mikey was all mouth and arms as he came rushing out from the dojo, flailing his hands around like a bird that was trying to break his fall.

"I'm sorry bros, I knew I shouldn't have done it, but I did, and I didn't think he would get this mad, HONEST! He's right behind me, he's gonna do stuff to me, bros you gotta help- Oh wait."

Mikey suddenly stopped right in his tracks for a couple of seconds and carefully looked behind him. The dojo was completely silent.

"Sorry, my bad." Mikey apologized with a relaxed wave at the audience and immediately sneaked back inside again with the gleeful grin of someone that didn't know better.

"… I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me here." April said with glance at the scientist.

"Yeah, well you see," Donnie started off while he obstructed the escaping robot arm's rout with the pizza box. "Shedding is an uncalled for and kinda prolonged bodily function which during its period brings a lot of frustration and stress to the afflicted, so...The dealing process tends to stir up a lot of emotions."

"So that's why Leo has locked himself inside the dojo?" April asked with a nod at the temporarily restricted area.

"He claims that meditation makes it easier for him to handle it."

"Does it?" April said with a raised eyebrow.

A loud noise could be heard coming from the room together with a high pitched scream that without doubt belonged to the freckled turtle. April thought she could hear heavy objects hitting the walls.

"Who knows." Donnie simply shrugged in a casual manner. "But it would certainly make _me_ feel better if he could do it somewhere without access to weapons."

"Do you all get like that?"

"Um, let's see..." Donnie pondered as he seemed to recall all earlier events on the subject in order to give an accurate description. "... Leo tends to get extremely easily provoked and violent when he is shedding, Raph gets really gloomy and sluggish and isolates himself, and Mikey gets... well... Just try to imagine him ten times worse than he is now and you'll get the picture."

"... sorry. Can't." April apologized with a crooked smile, but flinched in surprise when Raph suddenly joined the conversation.

"He gets louder, whinier, and can't sit still even if his life depended on it," He explained with emphasizing hand gestures. "And he will find things to complain about _all the time_. No matter how hard you hit him, smack him, or lock him up somewhere, his voice will be a constant white noise at the back of your head until the whole thing has passed."

"And I guess that you are the one who confirmed those last particular facts." April pointed out with a glance at Raphael's direction.

"I'd like to call it a team effort..." Raph added with a subtle glare at Donnie before going back to his magazine. April blinked in surprise and look at the purple clad turtle in disbelief.

"I just told you, he gets ten times _worse_ than usual." Donnie defended himself with an almost desperate look. "That's a lot of Mikey to put up with!"

"GAAAH! He's after me!"

Once again the youngest turtle came running out from the dojo, but this time he wasn't alone. Leo was in close pursuit, with eyes burning with the desire to harm something and one of his Katanas drawn to amplify that intention.

"Yeah, you're right Mikey. Looks like he really lost it this time." Raph stated with mild interest as he briefly looked up from the pages to watch the show that were taking place.

"Get him off me!" Mikey shouted as he made a leap for safety at the tire swing, a relief spot that only lasted for seconds as Leo with gritted teeth threw a shuriken at the rope. The tire hit the water surface with a wide splash zone and Mikey only narrowly managed to leave it before it went under the surface. He wasn't even allowed a moment to breathe and squealed in terror when the sword-wielding turtle went after him again.

"... So how do you get when you're shedding?" April asked Donnie almost absentmindedly, as she followed the scenario in front of her with the same conflicted feelings as someone who's watching a documentary with a lion hunting a gazelle.

"Actually, I pretty much stay the same." Donnie answered with a bemused look as he continued to tinker with the Kraang arm. "It's kinda funny, but so far I am the only one who has retained my personality completely intact during the whole transition period. I'm not sure why though. It seems a bit odd..."

"You're NOT the same!" Mikey shouted at Donnie in a panicky voice as he passed by the table in a hurry with Leo tailing him closely. April turned to Donnie with a frown.

"He must be joking." Donnie reasoned with a petty gesture at the accusation.

Mikey looked like he wanted to protest but realized in terror that Leo's sword was only a swing away from him, and he had to jump for the staircase-construction above the TV to take cover. Leo stopped right beneath him and growled agitatedly as he watched Mikey like a pitbull watches a cat in a tree. He made an attempt to reach him, but narrowly missed.

"Whoa!" Mikey called out in fear as Leo's attack was a little too close for comfort. "Dude, just chill! Breathe! Relax! De-crazyfy yourself! You're starting to get really scary-mad right now and not funny-mad, okay? Raph! Bro! Tell him to stop!"

"Sorry Mikey." Raph said in a calm manner and didn't even bother to look up at him. "But if I keep saving you, you will never learn to stop doing it."

"You haven't saved him _once_, and he hasn't stopped doing it yet." Donnie said with a tired look at the very avoidable domestic disturbance taking place in front of him.

"… I'm gonna go ahead and assume that Leo isn't in the mood for a peperoni pizza right now." April concluded with a shrug and put down the two remaining pizzas on top of Donnie's box.

"I wouldn't be so certain." Donnie tapped his chin with a pondering look at the pile of pizzas before picking one and holding it up for all his brothers to see.

"Um... Leo?" He said a bit nervously as he opened the box and tried to make the content look as tempting as possible. "April brought some Pizza for us. Nice, warm, honestly paid for pizza. Would you like one?"

Leo seemed to have lost enough interest in Mikey to not bother with another attempt to reach him. He put his katana back and left for the dojo with a dark look on his face, absently scratching the back of his shell. Now when he wasn't running around all over the place, April noticed how his back was covered in thin white sheets of lose skin that waved ghostly behind him as he moved.

"... Alright that's a no," Donnie swiftly stated as he closed the pizza box. "But he didn't lash out at me, so maybe he's just saving it for later-... Mikey? What are you doing?"

Mikey had jumped down from his hiding place and were currently staring hypnotically at the lose skin that were hanging from Leo's back. With big eyes brimming with childish wonder he started to follow his brother, his right arm almost absently reaching out to his back.

"Okay this is seconds away from going too far." Donnie uttered stressfully as he leaped off his chair, rushed by Raph, and tackled Mikey to the ground before he could get closer to Leo. Mikey grunted in discomfort as he tried to squirm free from Donnie's grip, but the tall turtle put all his weight on top of him and prevented him from getting up.

"Mikey! Leave him alone! You're not suppose to peel those things off!"

"But they want to come off! THEY WANT TO COME O-O-OOOFF!" Mikey whined desperately as his fingers were scratching the air at the thin transparent sheets on Leo's back.

"The lose skin is coming off fine by its own! Now leave it!"

"But I'm helping!"

"It doesn't need your help! DON'T TOUCH THE DEAD SKIN!"

"I HAVE TO!"

"Oh for the love of...!" Raph said in frustration and threw his magazine aside.

He got up from the couch and marched towards his brothers with an agitated look. None of them noticed him until he suddenly grabbed Mikey by the shell and violently pulled him up on his feet, with Donnie tumbling off him from the sudden movement.

"Okay, Mikey. Here's the deal." Raph started to explain with a calm voice, but his eyes were fixed on his little brother like guns ready to fire. "You're gonna imagine my voice as a stapler, and my words as staples that will pin themselves all over your skull's insides and _stay_ there like a headboard. And the words are gonna be: STOP BOTHER EVERYONE! You got that?"

Mikey blinked at his brother in a way that could either be interpreted as catatonic fear or complete cluelessness. Raph didn't seem to be pleased with the reaction and leaned closer to the orange-clad turtle with a menacing glare.

"Congratulations, you just upgraded the stapler to a _shotgun_-!"

"It's no use Raph." Donnie pointed out calmly as he got up and put a restraining hand on Raph's shoulder. "It's an obsessive compulsion. He won't stop until he has satisfied his curiosity and picked at least one piece of shedding skin."

"Done and done!" Mikey declared proudly as he suddenly pulled out a long transparent piece of skin which he had hidden on his person. It danced spookily in the air from the motion. The sight of it made Raph flinch in disgust and instinctively drop Mikey like an infected roadkill.

"That's SICK!" Raph shouted furiously at Mikey, but still took one step back to increase the distance between him and the undesired remains of Leo's shell.

"Dude, I'm losing _soo_ much respect for you right now." Mikey pointed out with a sad head-shake, but soon went back to gleefully check how far the skin could stretch without breaking.

Raph made a loud growling sound as he smacked Mikey hard over the head and then grabbed his shell to drag him off towards their rooms. Possibly to lock his little brother inside until he could learn to contain himself.

"... Seems like I picked the wrong day to visit you guys." April sighed with folded arms.

"Oh, don't let Leo get to you," Donnie argued quickly. "we can still hang here. We just...um..."

"Have to stay away from the dojo?" April guessed.

"Yes. And with stay away, I mean keep at least 100 meters distance. And just to be sure, avoid looking at it the wrong way." Donnie corrected, and quickly increased his distance from the war-zone to stress the meaning of his words. He made an apologetic laugh when he saw the confused look on his female company.

"It's different from time to time. We don't really have a standing procedure for this. Just leave him alone until it passes."

"It's kinda odd though." April felt the need to point out. "You'd think that Raph would enjoy tormenting Leo just as much as Mikey. But instead, he's actually being surprisingly considerate."

"Believe me; he would jump at any opportunity to provoke Leo if given the chance. And he used to do it all the time too. But not anymore."

"Are you saying…" April looked at Donnie with a raised eyebrow. "... That even _Raph_ is scared of Leo when he's like this?"

"Oh, no, not at all." Donnie clarified with a smile and waved off the suggestion. "I admit that Leo is way more viscous than Raph when he's shedding, but it doesn't change the fact that Raph is usually stronger."

"So why is he leaving Leo alone?"

"He learned that when Leo starts shedding, his own shedding is coming up next." Donnie explained simply. "And that's when Leo takes revenge."

"I see." April nodded, remembering what Donnie said about Raph's personality change during the shedding season.

"Yup." Donnie nodded and counted on his fingers while he headed back to his desk. "And then there's usually my turn, and then Mikey, and then the cycle repeats after another year or so. But I doubt we'll grow much bigger than we are now."

"How come you've never mentioned this before?" April asked curiously as she followed him.

"It's..." Donnie began and looked away from April with a troubled expression. "...Well... to be honest, it's not a very comfortable thing to talk about."

"Why not?" April said with an encouraging smile. "It's just natural for you guys, right?"

Donnie observed her silently for a moment with an unreadable look on his face. He then made a deep sigh and cleared his throat before turning back to April.

"Ok," He started as he put his hands together in a contemplative way. "if I have to compare this with a human equivalent... It's roughly the same as if we would ask you what your female body is up to approximately one week every month."

April's smile faded and left her with a shocked expression that soon changed into a disapproving one. Donnie froze for a second before looking away awkwardly.

"… I read a lot of books." He apologized.

"Okaaay, moving on." April finally stated in a casual voice, ready to forget that the subject ever had come up.

"There! You can thank me later." Raph suddenly announced as he came back and sat down on the couch with a pleased sigh.

"Splinter is gonna make you release him you know." Donnie felt the need to point out.

"Eventually." Raph admitted with a carefree grin as he picked up his magazine again. "But that's a problem for future Raph, not this Raph."

"Well, I'm afraid that _this_ April is gonna have to leave you guys." April said with a gesture at herself and took a quick peek at the clock on her phone.

"What? A-Already?" Donnie asked with a worried look. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Relax, it has nothing to do with you." She smiled reassuringly. "I never intended to stay for long. I put off a whole bunch of homework because of the test, and now I finally have time to deal with them. Well... not that much time, to be honest. And that's why I gotta get back home and get started as soon as possible."

"Oh. Right." Donnie answered with an uneasy laugh, but stopped when he was struck by an idea. "Hey, if you're running late with your school assignments, maybe I could help!"

"Thanks, but it's fine." April said and gave him a pat on the shoulder before heading towards the lair's entrance. "All the materials are at my aunt's place, so unless you plan on adding her to the list of people who knows about you, we should probably keep the two of you apart."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. I get it." Donnie said as casual as he could. However, he had a hard time hiding his disappointment as April's back was moving further and further away from him.

"...But." She suddenly said as she stopped right in front of the turnstiles.

"Yes?" Donnie said with hope sparkling in his eyes like fireworks.

"... You don't happen to have any junk I could take with me?" She asked and turned to Donnie with an uncertain look. "There's an art-project that's due tomorrow, and I could really need something that that pops in a crowd of paintings and clay sculptures. Do you have anything you could spare?"

"To _spare_?" Donnie exclaimed with the biggest of smiles, unable to contain his excitement. "We could fill two amphitheaters with our junk! Well, figuratively speaking, of course. Just hang on, I think I got _just_ the thing!"

Donnie happily ran off with hearts floating all around his head, and used his staff to jump over the abandoned desk with the Kraang arm. He landed skillfully on the other side and was gone in the blink of an eye. April blinked in mild surprise over this behavior as she turned to the remaining turtle.

"… Can I ask you something?" April wondered with an uncertain voice.

Raph didn't answer her but looked up from his magazine with a raised eyebrow.

"Does Donnie really stay the same when this... thing happens to him?" April asked, with a gesture to where Donnie was last seen.

"He'd like you to think that, wouldn't he?" Raph said with a grin, apparently finding the idea very amusing.

"So he's _not_ the same?" April continued, her uncertainty quickly evolving into curiosity.

"... Let me put it like this:" Raph started as he turned back to his magazine. "When Don is shedding, not even Mikey goes near him."

oOoOoOoOoOo

**AN:** Hope you enjoyed this, folks, 'cause I would love to write more about these guys. :) (Man, the stuff I got planned for 'em…!) But if you have any advice or constructive criticism on how to improve my writing, please free feel to tell me. I'm doing this for fun, but I wouldn't mind learning something in the process. (^-^)

Are you planning on leaving comment? It really helps me going and gives my crumbling self-esteem a huge boost! Plus, I'd love you to pieces~ (´7`)


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